USGA Report - Wednesday, August 25 - first round of match-play


Defending Champion An, Langley Win; Medalist Wilson Loses in First Round

Defending champion Byeong-Hun 'Ben' An and 2010 NCAA Men's Division I champion Scott Langley were among the 32 winners and medalist Jeff Wilson lost in the first round of match play at the 2010 U.S. Amateur Championship at 7,742-yard, par-71 Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash.

An, an 18-year-old Korean native living in Bradenton, Fla., defeated David Dannelly, 21, of Clemson, S.C., 3 and 2, despite trailing by three holes through four.

"I had a really tough opponent," said An, who is a freshman at Cal-Berkeley. "I struggled the first five holes while he went birdie-eagle. My dad told me I just needed to play my game and get it close. I knew I had 14 holes to go so I just had to get back on my game. I was hitting the ball really well on the range so I knew I had it in me."

An, who became the youngest champion in U.S. Amateur history at age 17 last year, won three of the next four holes to gain a 1-up lead.

"Having the experience of last year's U.S. Amateur definitely helped me deal with the pressure of being down in a match," An said.

Langley, 21, of St. Louis, Mo., defeated two-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Tim Jackson, 51, of Germantown, Tenn., in a seesaw match in 19 holes. The left-handed senior from the University of Illinois, who was the low amateur in the 2010 U.S. Open, was 2 down through seven holes against Jackson, who has been the low amateur at the last two U.S. Senior Opens as well as the medalist at the 2009 U.S. Amateur.

"It was a tough draw," said Jackson, who was the oldest player to advance to match play. "This golf course was an advantage to me to play here and use my experience. You hate losing. Scott played well. I played well early. He played well in the middle holes and we both had chances. It came down to a putt, that's fun. I'd like to be on the top side of that but looking back I hit a lot of good shots, I competed well. I'm a little a bit older than he is. That's the fun part to be competitive at my age. No regrets."

Langley rallied for wins on the ninth and 11th holes to square the match. The pair traded wins on 13 and 14 when their opponent made bogey.

Langley then birdied the par-3 17th from 8 feet to reach the 18th with a 1-up edge. There, the veteran Jackson, who has played in nearly 40 USGA championships, holed a tricky downhill 9-foot putt to save par from the bunker to win the hole and extend the match.

On the first extra hole, the par-5 first, Jackson's third shot hit the green but rolled back off the surface. His recovery chip was 6 feet wide. Langley had hit his third shot, a wedge from well below the hole, to 15 feet. Following Jackson's chip, Langley holed the birdie putt for the victory.

"As soon as I saw Tim's name, I knew I was going to have to play well to beat him," Langley said. "We had quite the match. We both played awesome. I think we were both under par in regulation with the usual concessions. To pull it out in the end after I bogeyed 18 and to hit the shot here (on the first extra hole) and to make the putt was a big relief."

Wilson, 47, of Fairfield, Calif., who won the stroke-play medal at 136, was defeated by Amory Davis, 21, of Chadds Ford, Pa., 3 and 1.

Davis, a University of Virginia senior, earned the last spot in the match-play field with a birdie on the par-4, 11th in the 16-player-for-six-berths playoff. He was at the course for the 7:15 a.m. playoff and his match was the last of 32 to finish.

Davis grabbed the lead on the seventh hole against Wilson, a five-time USGA medalist. He never trailed after that and his lead reached 3 up with a birdie on the 10th.

"Jeff is a great player," Davis said. "If he had run into somebody who played pretty good golf today, he would have smoked him. But, I didn't play pretty good golf."

Davis was the equivalent of five under par with match-play concessions and Wilson was two under.

"He would have beat a lot of people the way he played today," Wilson said. "I played pretty well too but what are you going to do?"

Wilson is the first medalist at the U.S. Amateur to lose in the first round since Chris Mundorf in 2001.

The second and third rounds of match play are scheduled for Thursday, followed by the quarterfinal round on Friday, the semifinal round on Saturday and the 36-hole final on Sunday.

The U.S. Amateur is one of 13 national championships conducted annually by the United States Golf Association, which include the U.S. Open, U.S. Women's Open, U.S. Senior Open and 10 strictly for amateurs.

University Place, Wash. -- Results of Wednesday's first round of match play at the 2010 U.S. Amateur Championship, played at 7,742-yard, par-71 Chambers Bay.

Round of 64

Upper Bracket

Amory Davis, Chadds Ford, Pa. (149) d. Jeff Wilson, Fairfield, Calif. (136), 3 and 1
Brad Benjamin, Rockford, Ill. (145) d. Tommy McDonagh, Norwalk, Conn. (146), 6 and 5
David Chung, Fayetteville, N.C. (144) d. Mike McCoy, West Des Moines, Iowa (148), 3 and 2
Skip Berkmeyer, St Louis, Mo. (148) d. Conrad Shindler, Westlake, Texas (144), 2 up
Ryan McCarthy, Australia (143) d. Daniel Bowden, Easley, S.C. (148), 5 and 4
Brent Martin, LaPlata, Md. (147) d. Drew Kittleson, Scottsdale, Ariz. (145), 19 holes
Scott Langley, St. Louis, Mo. (148) d. Tim Jackson, Germantown, Tenn. (143), 19 holes
Patrick Reed, Augusta, Ga. (145) d. Daniel Zuluaga, Colombia (147), 2 and 1
Carter Newman, Augusta, Ga. (149) d. Andres Echavarria, Colombia (140), 2 and 1
Max Homa, Valencia, Calif. (145) d. T. J. Bordeaux, Tacoma, Wash. (146), 2 and 1
Eugene Wong, Canada (144) d. Joe Saladino, Huntington, N.Y. (148), 19 holes Harris English, Athens, Ga. (144) d. Jarred Bossio, Olympia, Wash. (147), 2 and 1
Justin Thomas, Goshen, Ky. (140) d. Robert Leopold, England (149), 6 and 5
Scott Strohmeyer, Tuscaloosa, Ala. (146) d. Cameron Peck, Olympia, Wash. (145), 2 and 1
Alex Shi Yup Kim, Fullerton, Calif. (148) d. Todd White, Spartanburg, S.C. (143), 1 up
Byeong-Hun An, Berkeley, Calif. (147) d. David Dannelly, Clemson, S.C. (144), 3 and 2

Lower Bracket

Patrick Cantlay, Los Alamitos, Calif. (137) d. Brad Shaw, Los Angeles, Calif. (149), 2 and 1
Blayne Barber, Lake City, Fla. (146) d. Kevin Tway, Edmond, Okla. (145), 1 up
Connor Arendell, Cape Coral, Fla. (144) d. Eric Steger, Noblesville, Ind. (148), 2 up
Chan Kim, Gilbert, Ariz. (148) d. Nick Taylor, Canada (144), 4 and 2
Joseph Bramlett, Saratoga, Calif. (143) d. Mike Miller, Brewster, N.Y. (148), 4 and 3
Tyler Sheppard, Midland, Texas (146) d. Scott Harvey, Greensboro, N.C. (145), 4 and 2
Hudson Swafford, Tallahassee, Fla. (143) d. Harry Rudolph III, La Jolla, Calif. (148), 19 holes
Jed Dirksen, Hampton, Iowa (147) d. Michael Morrison, Atlanta, Ga. (144), 6 and 5
Patrick Rodgers, Avon, Ind. (137) d. Ricky Stout, New Bern, N.C. (149), 3 and 2
Alex Ching, Honolulu, Hawaii (146) d. Denny McCarthy, Burtonsville, Md. (145), 2 and 1
Morgan Hoffmann, Wyckoff, N.J. (144) d. Albin Choi, Canada (148), 2 up
Richard Werenski, South Hadley, Mass. (147) d. Gunner Wiebe, Denver, Colo. (144), 2 and 1
Emiliano Grillo, Argentina (149) d. Eric Chun, Korea (142), 4 and 2
Peter Uihlein, Orlando, Fla. (146) d. Cheng Tsung Pan, Chinese Taipei (145), 2 and 1
Arnond Vongvanij, Gainesville, Fla. (143) d. Nick MacDonald, Lebanon, N.H. (148), 19 holes
John Hahn, Las Vegas, Nev. (144) d. Andrea Pavan, Italy (147), 2 and 1

Pairings for Thursday's second round of match play at the 2010 U.S. Amateur Championship, played at 7,742-yard, par-71 Chambers Bay.
Round of 32

7:30 a.m. - Amory Davis, Chadds Ford, Pa. (149) vs. Brad Benjamin, Rockford, Ill. (145)
7:40 a.m. - David Chung, Fayetteville, N.C. (144) vs. Skip Berkmeyer, St Louis, Mo. (148)
7:50 a.m. - Ryan McCarthy, Australia (143) vs. Brent Martin, LaPlata, Md. (147)
8:00 a.m. - Scott Langley, St Louis, Mo. (148) vs. Patrick Reed, Augusta, Ga. (145)
8:10 a.m. - Carter Newman, Augusta, Ga. (149) vs. Max Homa, Valencia, Calif. (145)
8:20 a.m. - Eugene Wong, Canada (144) vs. Harris English, Athens, Ga. (144)
8:30 a.m. - Justin Thomas, Goshen, Ky. (140) vs. Scott Strohmeyer, Tuscaloosa, Ala. (146)
8:40 a.m. - Alex Shi Yup Kim, Fullerton, Calif. (148) vs. Byeong-Hun An, Berkeley, Calif. (147)
8:50 a.m. - Patrick Cantlay, Los Alamitos, Calif. (137) vs. Blayne Barber, Lake City, Fla. (146)
9:00 a.m. - Connor Arendell, Cape Coral, Fla. (144) vs. Chan Kim, Gilbert, Ariz. (148)
9:10 a.m. - Joseph Bramlett, Saratoga, Calif. (143) vs. Tyler Sheppard, Midland, Texas (146)
9:20 a.m. - Hudson Swafford, Tallahassee, Fla. (143) vs. Jed Dirksen, Hampton, Iowa (147)
9:30 a.m. - Patrick Rodgers, Avon, Ind. (137) vs. Alex Ching, Honolulu, Hawaii (146)
9:40 a.m. - Morgan Hoffmann, Wyckoff, N.J. (144) vs. Richard Werenski, South Hadley, Mass. (147)
9:50 a.m. - Emiliano Grillo, Argentina (149) vs. Peter Uihlein, Orlando, Fla. (146)
10:00 a.m. - Arnond Vongvanij, Gainesville, Fla. (143) vs. John Hahn, Las Vegas, Nev. (144)

Thanks to the USGA for the above coverage. For more, visit www.usga.org.